Keeping busy and making time to breathe...

 

This quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder is one that I come back to regularly, as it encourages my choice to live a quiet life, a life unhurried, closed away from the world outside by a tall fence on all sides. Surrounded by the many trees my husband has planted in our six years here, and the gardens we created to provide beauty, food, herbs, restful places to sit and watch the numerous birdlife our quarter acre attracts each day - this is our sanctuary, our quiet place, where we truly do take time to think our own thoughts, talk to God, and separate ourselves (as much as we can) from the chaos of a world that shouts increasingly louder, demanding more attention than we choose to give.

 

(the garden is flourishing right now)

It sounds as though we live somewhere out in the country I suppose, but in reality we live on a very busy main road, and when we first moved here this challenged our heartfelt desire for peace and quiet. For those of you who were reading the blog back in 2017/18 you may remember that we spent almost a year searching for our first ever home, after renting all our married life. We had a list of things that we felt were important, and we offered this list to God each day, trusting that in His perfect timing, He would lead us to the right home - and He did, just weeks before our rental lease expired. 

(winter blueberries ripe for the picking)

It was a sunny end-of-winter August day, exactly six years ago last weekend, when we first came to see the house. The road had traffic, but not so much that we thought about it on that Sunday morning. Going through our list of requirments we were surprised to see that it had everything, plus a swimming pool - the one thing we did not want. Ha ha! The price was a bit more than we could spend, but we went away and sat by the river to pray and wait on God. About a half hour later we went back and made an offer 20K below the asking price, fairly sure this was what we were meant to do, and completely putting our trust in the Lord...and the offer was accepted. The house had been empty for months and the owners just wanted it off their hands.

(the cosmos are self seeding everywhere)

It wasn't until we moved in that the almost constant stream of traffic drew a line through "peace and quiet" on our list of requirements. Fortunately the excitement of setting up a real home of our own subdued that particular disappointment for a couple of months, but eventually reality took hold and we struggled to sleep with the zoom zoom of cars and trucks passing through the night. 

(lemon balm, chives and pentas mixed with morrocan mint)

The neighbours assured us "you'll get used to it" but we found that hard to believe. Our greatest desire in having a home was to live in peace and quiet, to have sanctuary away from the outside world, a place to refresh, renew, and flourish in our later years. It had been a family joke for decades that whenever our children asked their father what he wanted for his birthday/Fathers day/Christmas, his answer never changed from "peace and quiet, please."

(white yarrow, so pretty, and lovely in teas)

God's plans are regularly not the ones we'd choose for ourself - have you found that? The swimming pool we did not want has become an integral part of our health regime, with both of us swimming year-round, regardless of the weather or temperature. It's a blessing we never forsaw, yet we cannot imagine being without it now. 

(another self-seeder, sweet basil)

But that lack of peace and quiet...mmm...?? Well, as the years passed by I learned a very big lesson. Peace and quiet can be found anywhere, if you just focus on what's important within your home, the people within, and the GOD who is the real peacegiver, the One who will meet you in the storm, in the scorching summer days, in the noisy daytime traffic, in the partying of neighbours, in the (eventual) quieting darkness of the night...in your prayers, and in His Word. That changed everything for us.

(more self-seeding, pretty marigolds)

Seeking peace in a loud world is something many of us need more than ever these days, especially since 2020, as that year triggered more rapid changes across the globe than any year in my lifetime, and the changes continue to increase. Life as we know it now, especially for children, is nothing like the life my husband and I grew up in. I won't go into that too much, but I do lament the loss of those carefree years of old which my grandchildren have never experienced. But what I can rejoice in is their visits to our quarter acre, where they roam and play and wonder and explore and discover in complete freedom for hours on end...and that is something I am sure God planned when He led us here. 

(we have so much sage, lovely in teas and cooking)

So where am I going with all this? Well, we may never get all we ask for, and God may lead us in ways we do not understand at the time, but with our very limited view of tomorrow, next month or next year, we can be confident  that when we lay all aside to trust the Lord and follow His lead, we will one day see with fresh eyes all that He was preparing for us, all the goodness of God displayed for we who love and worship Him. 

The past few days have been very busy with not much time to rest up, but oh what a wonderfully productive few days it has been! I go to bed each night aching, but arise happy to start a new day. 

Last post I think I showed you how I am growing and drying calendula again. Our calendula flowers are harvested every day, and left to dry outside on the back table. Once dry they are stored in a glass jar, ready for using in herbal medicines/balms/tinctures. 

Firstly I make a calendula infusion of the dried flowers in extra virgin olive oil, leaving it sit in the dark for a month or more. Then I strain it and bottle the calendula infused oil, or use some to make balms and salves. 

Last Sunday afternoon (after a visit to the farmers market that morning) my kitchen looked more like an apothecary's back room, but I did tidy along the way so that ingredients didn't get mixed up. 

The final result was worth the month long wait for the infusion to be ready, as I ended up with pure calendula oil, calendula & lavender balm, and calendula & lavender salve - all of which I share with my daughters Blossom and Kezzie. 

Of all the many books I have on making herbal treatments, this is my current favourite, The Garden Apothecary. The pure oil is beautiful as skin care and also put away for making more balms and salves. The balm is lovely for dry patches on the skin and on my hands after gardening, and the salve is especially made for Cully May who comes up in the most painful sores when bitten by mosquitoes. It really makes a difference for her, praise God. 

I've run out of the shea butter component, but have ordered more, so when my next infusion is ready at the end of September I can make more salve and balms, plus some lip balms too. 

Sunday morning we had been to the farmer's market and arrived home with a bounty of fresh produce - far more, and much cheaper than the supermarket. Weighed down with overflowing bags of produce, hubby and I both were surprised when our bill was just $23! 

I spent all day Monday in the kitchen, storing, preserving, roasting, pickling...and baking some sweet treats for us and Blossom's family of course! 

Here's just a few things I made for the week ahead (the rest was preserved in other ways, or vacuumed sealed in the refrigerator to use fresh) - pesto made from the green radish tops, pickled radishes, pickled red onions, garlic mayonnaise, fresh tomato salsa, roasted garlic & chive labne (made after hanging Greek yoghurt for 36 hours), and herbal tea to serve over ice. 

Blossom and Cully May LOVE the labne and enjoyed a batch with crackers yesterday. I now need to make more!

On Monday I also made 2 litres of almond milk, trays of roasted capsicums and tomatoes, a tray of peanut butter stuffed medjool dates, and some sweeties were baked - ginger & coconut slice, and a chocolate slice. 

On Tuesday I spent the morning in the garden as I had potted plants that needed to be moved into shaded areas, seedlings planted out, fertilising and a bit of pruning, and planting out the coriander roots from the two huge bunches of coriander (cilantro) we got at the farmers market. I had removed all the coriander leaves and stems for use in salads, curries, and salsa, plus a lot was frozen (for use in future curries), leaving around 4 inches above the root base for planting out. In just 24 hours they were already sprouting new leaves, so we will probably be able to harvest right up to November hopefully. Coriander doesn't like our heat or humidity and when I grow it, it just withers by mid spring, and this winter (when it normally flourishes) it just didn't grow well at all. 

After gardening, I went back to the kitchen and roasted pumpkin for salads, mashed pumpkin for pumpkin bread and muffins later this week, made a huge batch of meatballs and sauce (using some of my roasted tomatoes, garlic and capsicums from the previous day), made a bowl of French chicken salad to have on rolls, sliced up the pineapple and some watermelon, and made a chocolate avocado pudding. 

So you can see that I had three busy days back to back...and then yesterday (Wednesday) I did our regular grocery shop, and popped over to visit Blossom and the children who were excitedly waiting for Ross to return from a work trip away in Brisbane. 

When I arrived back home, and after watering the garden, I decided it was time to stop, to allow the satisfaction of a productive few days to settle in my thoughts, and take some time to breathe...a good reminder from one of my Gentle Domesticity designs. 

A cuppa, some ginger slice, and time with my sketch pad brought the afternoon to an end. I prepared another pattern for my free Promises Project (here), and shall spend the next few afternoons stitching it.

A long blog post, I know, but I hope it encouraged you in some small way to trust the Lord with His plans for your life, be they large or small, and to find delights within the sanctuary of your own home. 

This verse says it all really...

Oh, and I have been working on more UFO projects for this month, another three blocks in the Anni Downs quilt pattern, and more of that cross-stitch a began a few months back. Have you been working on some August finishes too??

There's a number of questions which readers have emailed me or left in comments the past couple of months, so I shall endeavour to do a blog post to answer what I can in the near future. But for right now, I'm taking time to breathe, to rest from my labours, and possibly to give the blog a bit of a holiday very soon. 

God bless, and many prayers, 

Don't miss out on any Elefantz news or free patterns. 

Subscribe to my blog posts HERE and receive them direct to your email inbox.  You'll never miss a freebie or news again!

Hubby joins our August UFO finish month...

 My husband has been busy. Since his torn muscle and cracked rib injury he hasn't been able to do all the heavier garden work because every time he does, the injury regresses, so he decided to tackle a few UFO projects inside the home while he continues to recover. But being a man (smile) the inside jobs required more than a light hand. 

He's such a hard worker, and it's near impossible for him to rest, or to just sit and let his body heal...so he does what 'he considers' to be light projects. When we bought this house in late 2018, he declared one of his first jobs on his long list would be to fix the back door and replace the back security door. Well, he did start on a few things from that list, but then the flood happened a few months later and there were far more important things to deal with in the next couple of years to protect the house should we face that sort of event in the future. 

This month, referring back to the old list of indoor projects, he decided to begin with replacing the back security door. That door was an inch too high at the bottom, and an inch too low at the top. It also had a very old pet flap, and these three things all added to the invasion of spring/summer/autumn flies in our tropical climate. The security screen door is just 6 feet from the kitchen (with the laundry between the door and the kitchen) so this really has been a problem when the main back door is open. 

New screen security doors are pretty expensive brand new, so he bought a used one in very good condition on Marketplace. It was larger than the door space, so he needed to cut the door smaller, replace the lock, and shave away some of the original door frame. To keep the flies out of the kitchen while he worked, a plastic drop cloth became a psuedo-door (above).

It ended up being a two day job, but eventually we rejoiced over the new door and lock! 

Then he began on the main door, which was a bit the worse for wear, but really just needed to be sanded down and repainted. Well, he sure surprised me with this one!! I assumed he'd paint it cream, or some other bland colour, because he's never really been into colour (family joke that he loves everything to be mission brown!) ...but no, he said we should be adventurous (wow!) and paint it the same turquoise as our shelf in the front entrance. 

So off we went to Bunnings for some colour swatches. I brought home the ones I thought were close to the shelf colour...

...then back to Bunnings and that evening the first coat went on. 

The following night he added a second coat, and now I have a bright and cheerful back door!

In the midst of all this, my love brought home a gift after work one night. A new kitchen tap. I mentioned to him a few years back that I liked this style and maybe one day we could get something similar. I never mentioned it again...but he saw one on sale and remembered. 

He spent the next hour removing the old tap and installing this one. I am so blessed!!

I've completed a few more UFO projects myself, mostly in the garden, but some were sewing projects.

I 'finally' hand-quilted my red and green version of "We Will Serve the Lord" before hanging it in the front entrance...

...and I bordered and hung Home Sweet Home. The version in my shop (here) is a little different than this one, apart from this being stitched in blue and the original stitched in red. In the original version the top left section has three houses, but I stitched this blue one for my own home and drew just a single house. 

I really love this blue version, but we have turquoise through our home and it just doesn't look right anywhere, so I'm going to add it to my shop for sale next week. This is the first original Elefantz stitchery I've ever offered for sale, other than some quilts I auctioned for charity. I'll probably keep using the red version as it works well with all the turquoise. 

A lot has been done in the garden this past week. I had plenty of seedlings to plant out, potted plants that needed to be put in the ground or moved to shadier areas (it's already getting hot outside, but quite lovely), and plenty of fertilsiing and pruning.

After a long day in the garden yesterday, I sat back with a cuppa in my little spot under the huge umbrella canopy of the poinciana and considered what still needed to be done, while the birds flittered here and there singing their late winter tunes. It was a beautiful way to end the afternoon. 

I pray you have a lovely weekend, my friends, and that you take time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour. A day of rest is the most wonderful thing after six days of homemaking, don't you agree?

"And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good...And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done." 

Genesis 1:31 and Genesis 2:2

Hugs

Don't miss out on any Elefantz news or free patterns. 

Subscribe to my blog posts HERE and receive them direct to your email inbox.  You'll never miss a freebie or news again!

Herbing and sewing...

HERBING...

Herbing? Never heard of it before? I think I may have just made it up. ;-)

I have been herbing in the garden this past week, preserving and enjoying some of our fresh greens in various ways. We currently grow twenty-six different herbs in the garden, and whilst some will only flourish in our tropical winter, others bloom abundantly in spring, and the remainder prefer the hot and humid summer for displaying their bounty, it's actually a good system because we can harvest something tasty to add to meals, teas, or preserve all year through. 

This past week I wanted to do a bit of dehydrating so I began with the Tulsi (Holy Basil) leaves which we use in herbal teas...

The best time for picking is when the new leaves turn purple, and as Tulsi has numerous health properties I use them fresh, or dry them. In fact I made some herbal tea bags for my daughter Kezzie from many dehydrated herbs and they worked so well that I have just posted her a big batch.

I love having Dill growing through our winter season as it's wonderful chopped fresh for the Greek dishes I make my son-in-law, or stirred through fresh mayonnaise, or dried and crumbled for summer recipes. I also use the large dill seed fronds in a vase on the table with my roses...

Cinnamon Myrtle makes a beautiful tea, but also becomes a lovely spice rub when dehydrated and crumbled...

...and with such an abundance of Basil in winter, Pesto is always on the menu. Blossom's children could eat a jar of my fresh pesto with a spoon and still ask for more, so we make it go further by stirring it generously through pasta. 

Hubby loves salmon patties so of course I made some fresh mayo. In some of the mayo I added fresh chopped dill and it was so good we emptied the jar. Ha ha!! I told Blossom and now she wants some so I'll make more later today. 

Guilty confession. In between all the herbing I quietly finished off the last of a baked rice pudding (Nana's recipe) because it was taking up space in the fridge. Nah, just joking...I simply could not resist the temptation and gave in, adding some yummy raspberries for added health benefit. ;-)

SEWING...

I've been working on block one of Promises and it's coming along very nicely. I ended up doing two thin borders, instead of a second border of squares. As I explained last time, this is a gentle slow stitching project so I will take my time even with the bordering or fabric choices for each block. I chose the tealy blue second border because it blends with that same colour in the first border - oh, and I thought that vintage fabric was from a tablecloth, and now realise it's part of a curtain. Wish I had more, but I shall endeavour to make the small amount I do have go far. 

I chose the thread colour for the verse to match the tealy blue as well. 

Another lovely thing about stitching a slower project, is choosing the stitches along the way. For this block I've stem stitched the wooden borders, added double French knot buds around the applique flowers...

...and sewed my favourite blanket stitch embellished leaves. You can see the tutorial I made for those HERE and there's a free practice pattern as well. 

I've made a page for this project (link in the sidebar and also under my header) in case you ever miss a block. Go to the PROMISES of God page here.

The other bit of sewing I am currently working on is that cross stitch I began back in May. It's coming along in spits and spats, mostly in the evenings, but I will be very honest here and tell you that at this point I am quite over all those bricks...

...but I am pushing on to get the roof and steps completed, plus the mortar between the rest of the bricks (I have done about half of it so far) so that I can stitch the pretty bits. I took one break to stitch a leaf the other day because I have had enough of orangey bricks and needed to see some green. 

I am enjoying cross stitch again, after more than a decade of just hand embroidery, but I will be mindful of the patterns I choose in future. I really love this pattern, but I do not love sewing a million bricks. In the end it will be worth it, and Blossom keeps dropping hints about how much she loves it... ;-)

SOMETHING NEW...

I am trying a new sour dough bread recipe, a smaller loaf than all my other recipes as there's only the two of us here now, so hopefully it will work out well and become a regular bake. The instructions were very simple so I pray it really does bake deliciously. 

It can rise for the rest of day while I potter around and do other things, like visit the doctor for my echocardiogram results, water the garden, and cut up some old linen garments for usable stitching fabric. It's giving me a lot of joy to repurpose old garments this way and soon I'll have a shelf of them (after I sell some of my quilting fabric). 

I hope you have a gentle week, and that in those precious quiet moments when there's a quiet stillness all around, that you let the presence of God surround you and rest in His care. 

God bless, and big hugs,

Don't miss out on any Elefantz news or free patterns. 

Subscribe to my blog posts HERE and receive them direct to your email inbox.  

Or sign up HERE for my free newsletter which often has extra benefits, freebies & tutorials!